A Cleethorpes RNLI lifeguard went to the rescue of a family who were trying to retrieve an inflatable dolphin from the sea.

The drama unfolded on Tuesday when RNLI lifeguards rescued the family of three, who found themselves in difficulty as they tried to retrieve their dolphin inflatable at Sutton-on-Sea beach. A father was enjoying spending time in the sea with his wife and daughter when they lost their dolphin inflatable, as it began drifting further out to sea.

RNLI lifeguard, Laura Horsley of Cleethorpes, could see that the family were becoming out of their depth as they tried to retrieve the inflatable around 100m offshore, and immediately paddled out with a rescue board to help.

RNLI lifeguard Laura Horsley (Image: RNLI)

Laura reached the young girl and her mother and rescued them from the sea onto her board, as the father was able to swim back to shore.

Laura said: "As RNLI lifeguards, we are highly trained in rescuing people but also in how to prevent incidents from happening in the first place.

"To ensure everyone remains safe and has fun down at the beach, we would advise people to always listen to our warnings and safety messages."

RNLI lifeguard supervisor Arun Gray, said: "Laura did a brilliant job and was immediately on the scene when things began to take a turn.

"We advise beachgoers to avoid using inflatables in the sea, especially when the orange windsock is flying as this indicates there are strong offshore winds that will blow inflatables further out into deep water.

The number of people saved by crew at RNLI stations in 2016 and 2017 (Image: Ørsted)

"We also recommend that people visit a lifeguarded beach so that we are there to assist in instances like this - we are there to offer friendly safety advice and to let people know where is best to swim so that we can keep everybody safe."